


home is wherever i'm with you

by laurenjauregui



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/F, Human!Catra, Roommates, idiots to lovers, this is the most tropey thing ive ever written
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-06
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-12 11:19:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 14,340
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29883774
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/laurenjauregui/pseuds/laurenjauregui
Summary: When Adora's housing application goes wrong, she ends up stuck in a shitty dorm room with an even shittier roommate.It doesn't help that the shitty roommate in question is also really, really hot.AKA, a Catradora college roommates AU.
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra), Background Bow/Glimmer - Relationship
Comments: 15
Kudos: 146





	1. Chapter 1

Adora didn’t know how everything went so wrong.

She’d _submitted_ the stupid dorm application. Before the due date, too! Sure, she’d rushed it a little bit, but forgetting to check off _one_ stupid box shouldn’t mean her whole application was rejected. And they didn’t even tell her about it!

Well, okay, they did. Through an email that went to her spam folder. But that wasn’t _Adora’s_ fault, that was Outlook’s fault. She would stand by that.

Bright Moon University wouldn’t accept that answer, though. It wasn’t _their responsibility_ if their email had redirected to Adora’s spam folder. Now, she had to wait to find out if they could even find a bed for her. She was probably going to end up in some dive when she’d literally submitted her application _early_ to get a good room.

In her entire breathless over the phone rant to Glimmer and Bow about it, they’d assured her she could stay with them for as long as she needed to. They’d all shared an apartment last year, but then Bow and Glimmer had gotten together. They never would’ve _said_ it, but she knew they wanted to live together as a couple. Adora wouldn’t awkwardly third wheel and invade their personal space. She’d hate it, if it were her with a girlfriend, so she’d told them she’d just apply for on-campus housing.

 _“What could go wrong?”_ she’d laughed.

Apparently, a lot.

“Okay, we’ve got a space available in Fright Zone Hall that I can assign to you,” The receptionist at the housing director’s office smiled a little too brightly at her, probably because Fright Zone Hall was known for being a dump, since it was the oldest on campus residency. Just like Adora had expected. The woman behind the desk sensed her disappointment, because she threw in an enthusiastic, “You’ll have a private bathroom!” as if that made any of this better.

Actually. Private bathroom? That _did_ make things a little bit better. She knew she should take what she could get. “Okay. Thanks.”

“Okay, I’ll get that all sorted out on here and then I’ll get your room number for you,” the woman was already tapping enthusiastically at her computer keyboard, “then you’ll just need to go to Fright Zone Hall and collect your keys from the reception desk there, and you can get yourself moved in.”

Adora thanked her again, the thought of the private bathroom cheering her up significantly. At least she wouldn’t have to share a bathroom with the entire hallway. She’d dealt with that in freshman year, and the amount of times she’d entered a puke-covered bathroom when she was trying to get ready for her early classes… basically the reason she’d lived off campus with Bow and Glimmer in sophomore year.

Thinking of her friends, Adora sent a text to the group chat to let them know she wasn’t going to be sleeping on their couch for the year.

** Best Friend Squad! **

**Adora (12:06PM): GOOD NEWS!!! I don’t have to sleep in your lounge for the next year!!! They found me a room!!! In Fright Zone Hall!!! Can you tell I’m just SO excited to be living in such extravagant quarters!!!**

**Bow (12:07PM): nice positivity!**

**Adora (12:07PM): It was sarcasm**

**Bow (12:07PM): oh**

**Glimmer (12:08PM): we’ll meet you there and help you unpack and then we can all go for lunch!**

Even attempting to turn down her friends’ help wouldn’t work, so Adora just texted back a confirmation and was about to ask where they were thinking for lunch when the receptionist spoke again.

“Okay, I’ve got all your documents here,” She handed Adora a bunch of papers she’d probably forget to look through, “You’re in room 307 and the receptionist there should be expecting you.”

“Thank you,” Adora said again, trying to sound at least a little bit as enthusiastic as the other woman, but her heart wasn’t in it when she remembered all of the unpacking she had to do. Her car was loaded to the brim with all of her things. Oh, well. At least she wouldn’t be unpacking everything into Bow and Glimmer’s lounge. Or worse, living out of her car.

She made her way out to the car and wedged herself into the driver’s seat. A couple of things teetered from the big stack in the back, and she carefully backed out of her parking space to make the quick drive to Fright Zone Hall. She slipped into the building behind another student and picked up her room and building keys, and by the time she’d done that, Bow and Glimmer were already waiting by her car.

They both pulled her in for a tight hug, and when they pulled away, Glimmer grimaced at the grey, drab building in front of them and said, “Hey, it’s better than sleeping on the couch for a year!”

Adora frowned at the building sceptically. “I’ll get back to you on that one.”

“Remember, positivity,” Bow nudged her arm and then opened up her car door to pull out the first of many boxes. “Let’s get you moved in and then we can grab lunch.”

“And some cocktails, please,” Adora added, because she was going to need a drink after this. “You take the keys, Glimmer.”

“What? You think I can’t carry your big boxes of crap or something?” Glimmer scowled at her, snatching the offered keys and picking up a big box just to prove her point. She stomped off towards the building, and Adora watched after her with Bow, just waiting to watch her attempt to unlock the front doors with a big box in her arms. Adora snorted with laughter as Glimmer fumbled with the box, nearly dropped it, and then dropped the keys. “Okay, a little help here?”

Bow had the courtesy to hold back his laughter as he rushed forward to help her, but Adora didn’t. She was snickering in amusement as Bow took the second box from Glimmer so the short girl could pick up the keys and unlock the door. As Adora passed her to walk inside, Glimmer spared her a glare.

“Don’t you dare say it.”

Adora smirked. “Told you so.”

“Okay, technically you didn’t, you just implied it,” Glimmer used the fact that Adora had a huge box in her arms to smack her shoulder lightly, knowing she couldn’t retaliate. “You don’t have a right to a _told you so_.”

“You’re the one who stormed ahead. One of us needs to be able to open the doors.” Adora shrugged, still feeling a little smug. They caught the elevator up to the third floor, and Adora reminded them of the room number. “307. Lead the way, Glimmer.”

“Do you think you’ll have a roommate?” Bow asked once they were making their way through the corridors. He was walking beside Adora, because he couldn’t see over the two stacked boxes in his arms. “Maybe you’ll get lucky and have a single.”

“When they were scrambling to find somewhere to put me, I doubt it,” Adora said, but she hadn’t really thought about the possibility of the whole roommate thing. “Guess I’ve just got to hope I don’t get stuck with a psycho.”

“Okay, we’re here!” Glimmer announced belatedly, and Bow bumped into her, one of the boxes teetering on top of the other. She helped him steady them and then unlocked the door, kicking it open. “Welcome to your new home!”

Bow put the boxes down, relieved, and Adora put her own down, surveying the room. The left bed was already made up with some comfortable looking black pillows and duvet, and the closet door was slightly ajar.

“Your roommate theory was right,” Adora said, looking over at the bed. She didn’t know if she was relieved that they weren’t there. “I guess I’ll meet them later.”

They made a few more trips in and out of the building, slowly bringing Adora’s boxes in from the car, and their lunch plans started to look a little bit more like dinner plans. At least it would be a more acceptable time for cocktails.

She’d just made her bed – just in case casual cocktails turned into first night back partying – when the door banged open behind them and an irritated, raspy voice bit out, “Um, no offence, but who the fuck are you people and what are you doing in my room?”

Adora whirled around mid-pillow-fluffing and surveyed the girl in the doorway. She was small, slender, messy brown hair falling in waves down her back. She was framed in the doorway, the golden sunlight from the window opposite shining on her and making her tanned skin glow beautifully. She’d maybe look like an angel, except she was glaring at Adora and her friends, her lip curled in disgust, and her arms folded over her chest defensively. Or maybe it was _offensively._

“Oh,” Adora put on her _hello I’m a nice person_ stranger smile and coupled it with an awkward wave. She wasn’t sure if it was awkward because the whole situation was awkward, or because this girl was… well, to put it simply, hot. “Hi. I’m Adora. I’m your roommate. These are my friends, Bow and Glimmer. They’re just helping me unpack. Hey, we’re going for dinner later, if you want to-”

“Yeah, I don’t think so, Adele, or whatever you said your name was,” The girl stepped a little bit closer, squinting at her judgementally with… _whoa,_ one bright blue eye and one sparkling amber. “I don’t have a roommate. I applied for a single and I was told that I had one.”

Adora blinked and stopped drooling over sexy roommate girl’s equally sexy eyes. “Oh, well, uh, my application sort of went wrong, and I guess this was the only place they could put me.”

The girl’s judgemental squint turned into an outright glare, her hand clenching around the coffee cup held in it. Her gaze flicked between Adora and her friends and what she said next came out in a low, threatening growl. “Don’t get too comfortable. I’m going to the housing office and you’re going to be out of here before the sun goes down.”

She stomped away the way she’d came, and Adora, Bow and Glimmer stared after her in shock.

Bow broke the stunned silence. “So, uh… she seems nice.”

“Catra and _nice_ shouldn’t even be in the same sentence.” Glimmer scoffed, a consoling hand resting on Adora’s shoulder. “I met her in a class last year. Remember that nightmarish, uncooperative partner I had for that project?”

“That was _her_?” Adora stared at the empty doorway where her roommate – _Catra_ – had whirled from. “Yeah… I have to say that sleeping on your couch isn’t looking so bad anymore.”

* * *

“You have _got_ to be fucking kidding me.”

“I’m sorry, but in emergency situations where a student needs housing, sometimes things have to be shuffled around. You’ll find that in the contract you signed, there’s a mention that single rooms that have a spare bed in may be reassigned to another student.” The receptionist stated, an overly-polite smile on her face. “There’s nothing I can do, I’m afraid.”

“So, you’re telling me that I’m stuck with some prissy blonde roommate for the rest of the year, when I paid the extra for a single room?” Catra scowled at the woman. “Fucking fantastic.”

“There’s no need for that kind of language,” the woman said, tapping at her computer and reading the screen, “According to your information here, you’re on a full ride scholarship. I will inform the school board, and the extra money will be credited back to you for another area of cost. I hope that is satisfactory.”

“Great. Just peachy.” Catra muttered, pushing away from the desk and stomping out of the housing office without another word. Stupid, fucking school. She bet if she was one of those prissy rich kids whose daddy paid for their single room, she wouldn’t have to deal with this ‘necessary reshuffle’.

No, of course the girl who actually worked her ass off to be here would get stuck with the stupid blonde. Of course. Catra was already aware that the universe hated her, but this was just a joke.

She kicked a loose pebble on the sidewalk and watched as it bounced off her scuffed black boot, rolling to a stop a few feet away from her. She glanced back at the housing office and pushed a guilty sigh out; she’d never go back and apologise, but she did feel bad for snapping at the receptionist. It wasn’t her fault that the university was stupid, and the rules were stupider.

Maybe she should’ve just caved and gotten an off-campus apartment with Scorpia and Entrapta. It wouldn’t have been covered by her scholarship, but she’d saved up a lot over summer, and she worked during the school year. It would’ve been tight, but she could afford it. _No, I think I need to just get a single on campus. Peace and quiet so I can keep my grades up._

Too late now. She’d signed the idiotic contract and now she was stuck with the even more idiotic blonde. And from the looks of it, her friends, that Glitter girl and her boy-toy. No chance for peace and quiet there.

Catra was ready to give the girl – and her inane friends – a piece of her mind, but when she got back to the room, it was empty. Adele – or whatever her name was – had unpacked all of her things, and even her bedsheets were annoying. A flowery, preppy eyesore. She’d gone ahead and stuck some stupid polaroid pictures to the wall, and Catra had the strongest temptation to pull them off and stick them in the shredder.

Whatever. If the tack left marks on the walls, that one was on her. Catra had taken photographs of every single nook and cranny of the room the moment she arrived, and any scrapes and damages would be accounted to her lackwit roommate. Catra wouldn’t be charged for _her_ mess. The blonde could get _mommy and daddy_ to pay for it.

She flopped onto her bed with a long sigh and stared up at the ceiling. “God, this is going to be a long year.”

* * *

Adora sipped on her blue lagoon, only picking at the slice of pizza. She wasn’t feeling too optimistic about her living situation for the next year after all of Glimmer’s horror stories from her paired project with Catra. Apparently, she’d been ridiculously stubborn and completely ignored most of Glimmer’s ideas. As well as just being rude and refusing to call her anything other than ‘Sparkles’.

“Do you really think she could get me kicked out of the room?” Adora asked, well after the conversational topic had moved on. “I don’t like the sound of living with her, but I _really_ don’t want to pack everything up again.”

“I doubt it,” Bow said after a mouthful of pizza, “this kind of thing happens all the time, and I’m pretty sure the school has like, a legal duty to house you if you need it.”

“She’ll probably just be the typical jerkface roommate,” Glimmer said like that was supposed to make her feel better. “Which would’ve been inevitable, because Catra is a jerk.”

“Ugh, first day back and my roommate already hates me,” Adora groaned, resting her head on the table and banging her forehead on the edge of the pizza plate by accident. She sat up and rubbed it. “Ouch. And now I’m going to have a bruise.”

“Look at the positives,” Bow said, always the cheerleader between the three of them, “at least we’re back here, and you can come over to our place any time. And classes don’t start for another week, so we’ve got the whole week to meet up with our friends and relax. You’ll probably barely see her.”

That last point was… valid. Adora thought about her usually busy schedule – classes, library time, practice for soccer, spending time with friends – and smiled. The only time she’d be in the room with ‘ _jerkface Catra’_ as Glimmer liked to call her, would be to sleep. They wouldn’t have to interact with each other. It wouldn’t be like freshman year, when she was randomly assigned to Glimmer and they hit it off instantly, but that was okay. Not everybody got lucky like that.

“Alright, yeah,” Adora nodded, “you’ve got a point, actually. I’ll probably barely see her.”

“You’d better hope you barely see her,” Glimmer muttered, and when Bow elbowed her, she held her hands up in defence. “What? I’m speaking from experience here. She was a _nightmare_.”

Bow shook his head. “Do you not get that we’re trying to make our best friend feel _better_ here?”

“Oh, yeah,” Glimmer cringed, “Okay, she wasn’t _so_ bad. When she wasn’t talking.”

“Thanks, Glim, that really makes me feel better,” Adora deadpanned, grabbing another slice of pizza. “I think I’m going to need at least three more drinks to be able to face her again. And maybe a nice nap overnight on your new couch. Just to test it out, you know?”

She saw the way Bow and Glimmer exchanged a glance, and quickly added, “Joking, joking,” before they could give her some speech about facing up to her problems, or whatever.

Bow smiled. “If she’s really that bad, you can always crash with us, but…”

 _But._ The worst word ever. Nothing good came after _but._ People always started with the positive, and then _but_ came along to pack the negative punch.

“But you need to at least brave your room tonight,” he continued, flashing that ‘ _everything will work out in the end’_ smile of his. Bow was always the optimist. “Maybe if you guys get to know each other, you could end up getting along.”

Glimmer’s facial expression revealed she thought that was impossible, but she forced a smile and agreed with Bow. “Yeah. “

“Ugh, I hate that you’re right,” Adora sighed, and promised herself she wouldn’t talk about it anymore tonight. She searched for a subject change, and the best she could think of was, “So, have you guys checked your schedules yet? Anything we share?”

As they all logged onto the university’s website to compare class schedules, Adora shoved any thoughts of her hot, scary roommate out of her head. No, that was something she’d deal with later. Maybe Bow and Glimmer would be right, and she and Catra would laugh the whole thing off and become good friends.

Maybe.

* * *

Adora had the three drinks she’d vowed to have before facing Catra again, but they hadn’t had much of an effect after all of the pizza she’d eaten with her friends. She walked back to Fright Zone Hall by herself, had a little scare that she’d forgotten her keys, only to realise that they were in her back pocket when she was halfway back to Glimmer and Bow’s place to ask if Glimmer still had them.

She looked a little bit like a disaster as she made her way into the building and straightened herself out – _hah_ – before fumbling with her keys outside room 307. She looked at the blank whiteboard hanging on the front of the door and made a mental note to buy a marker to write their names on it. She had a feeling Catra wouldn’t.

She pushed open the door quietly, because it was 10pm, and she didn’t know if Catra went to bed early. Maybe that would be a point of discussion, bedtime and quiet hours. She closed the door unobtrusively, and when she heard it click shut, turned around to see those gorgeous eyes glaring back at her from the left bed.

Adora managed an awkward smile. “Uh, hi. I didn’t wake you, did I?”

Catra ignored her question completely and didn’t bother even attempting to return her smile. “The main office said that in _certain circumstances_ , things like this can happen, and that you have to stay here.”

“Oh,” Secretly, Adora was a little relieved, “well, that’s-”

“Here’s how things are going to be, princess,” Catra interrupted, scowling at her. It made her look a lot less beautiful. “You’re going to keep quiet, stay out of my way, and I swear, if you invite Sparkles and her boy-toy over, I _will_ make you hate living here so much that you’ll move out willingly. And don’t touch any of my shit. The mini-fridge is off limits to you and your _buddies_.”

Adora glared at her. Pretty or not, she wouldn’t put up with someone so _rude_. Like, how hard was it to talk things out like a normal adult? Clearly, neither was happy about this situation, that much was obvious. “You don’t have to be such a bitch about things. It’s not my fault that this was the only place available.”

“Uh, yeah, it was,” Catra retorted, putting on some stupid happy-go-lucky, high pitched voice as she imitated Adora, “ _My application went wrong, and this was the only place they could put me_. How hard is it to fill out a simple form? They make them extra simple for all the knuckleheads like you who probably won’t even graduate.”

“Knucklehead?” Adora scoffed, because was this girl for real? “First, it was a simple mistake, and second, you don’t know anything about me, Catra.”

“I don’t recall telling you my name,” Catra was still glaring, and Adora matched it with her own fury. She wouldn’t back down to her. “Just stay out of my way, princess.”

“Bold of you to assume I want to be in your way,” Adora snapped, and in a show of defiance, she stretched out on her bed, made herself comfortable. _At home_. “And you can forget your stupid rules. This is my room too, and I’ll be as loud as I want, go where I want, and invite whoever I want to join me.”

She swore that Catra’s chest rumbled with an honest to god _growl_. “I’m sure even an idiot like you has figured out that I’m not particularly happy about this situation, and you _really_ don’t want to piss me off more than you already have.”

“What are you going to do? Spit on my toothbrush? Replace my shampoo with hair removal cream?” Adora stopped after those two examples, because maybe she _shouldn’t_ give her horrible roommate tips on how to be even more horrible. “Bring it. I’ll report you, and then I’ll be the one with the single room.”

That had shut her up. Catra didn’t stop glaring at her, and her hand clenched around the book she was holding, but she didn’t respond. Adora took that as a win, and flashed a sickly-sweet smile her roommate’s way before grabbing her earphones and sticking them in. She almost considered blasting loud pop music – Catra seemed the type to act like she was _too cool_ for pop music – but decided that being inconsiderate to her neighbours was worse than pushing her bitchy roommate’s buttons.

As she was choosing her song, she heard Catra’s loud _ugh_ , and Adora watched her get up from her bed and stomp out of the room with a scowl on her face.

* * *

“I don’t like her.”

“Well, statistically, you never usually like anyone when you first meet them,” Entrapta didn’t look up from the game of Mario Kart she was (embarrassingly) kicking Catra’s ass at. “So really, this is nothing new.”

“I don’t like her especially,” Catra retorted, throwing her green shell. It nearly hit Entrapta, who always _insisted_ on playing as Princess Peach, but Entrapta threw a stupid banana back and blocked it. “How the fuck are you so good at this game?”

“Practice,” Entrapta shrugged, “how do you know you don’t like her especially, then?”

“She’s just… _ugh._ Irritating. All preppy and blonde. I bet she was a cheerleader in high school,” Catra scoffed, “and she had the nerve to talk back to me when I told her to keep quiet. Like _I’m_ the one inconveniencing _her._ ”

Catra threw her bomb back at the NPCs (and Scorpia, who was coming twelfth and frowning with intense concentration) and pretended that Luigi, who flipped over in the blast, was her roommate.

“What did you say her name was again?” Scorpia asked, smiling brightly when she got Bullet Bill in her next item box. “I might know her.”

Catra didn’t doubt it, because Scorpia was basically friends with everyone. “I don’t know, Adele or something. I wasn’t listening because I was too busy wondering why the fuck some strange girl was in my room. She hangs out with Sparkles and her boyfriend.”

“Oh, _Adora_!” Scorpia exclaimed, and Catra made a mental note of that. Not because she cared. Actually, she cared so little she’d probably call the girl Adele anyway, just to annoy her. “I know her. She’s on the soccer team with me. A little bit of a show-off, but she’s nice enough.”

“Great!” Catra flashed a sarcastic smile in Scorpia’s direction as she crossed the finish line of the race seconds behind Entrapta. “Do _you_ want to live with her, then?”

Scorpia laughed, completely giving up on the race all together because she was a lap behind everyone else. “Come on, wildcat, it won’t be so bad. She’ll probably be out of the room a lot anyway. I bet you’ll barely even see each other.”

“She’d better be out of the room a lot,” Catra muttered, grabbing her wine glass and taking a long drink. “I really want to stumble in drunk with some girl just to bug her. Actually, she gave me some pretty good ideas earlier. Remind me to pick up some hair removal cream on my way back.”

“That sounds like scholarship-loss level trouble right there,” Scorpia looked at her pointedly, and Catra frowned. She was right, and Catra _knew_ that. There was no way she’d ever let stupid Adora jeopardise her scholarship, as satisfying as it would be to mess with her. “Just ignore her, alright? Messing with her isn’t worth it.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Catra sighed, waving her off, but the tiny smile on her face spoke the words in her head. _Thanks, Scorpia._ “Come on, next race. I just thought of a new Entrapta-beating strategy.”

“Considering I’ve taken into account most of the variables, I highly doubt it,” Entrapta said, pressing the _A_ button to start the next race, “but as you say, _bring it on_.”

“Oh, don’t worry,” Catra smirked as she grabbed her controller. “I will.”

* * *

Adora recounted her total _badass_ victory over her horrible roommate to her friends the next day.

And again the day after, when she met up with Perfuma and Mermista for lunch.

And the day after that, while she was a little drunk at a welcome back party.

She could tell that Bow and Glimmer were getting a little bit annoyed with her. Adora understood that. Hearing the same story over and over must be tiring. Much like telling the same story over and over was, but Adora wasn’t the confrontational type. A confrontational victory with a rude person? She had to tell that story, if not to take pride in her own confidence.

It had been a crushing defeat for Catra, obviously. Since that first night, she’d barely seen her, and when she had, Catra mostly just ignored her. Aside from a few snide comments, but Adora ignored those. Weeks had passed, and even though the times they were stuck in the room together were awkward and strained, at least they weren’t _fighting_. Which Adora credited to her own badassery.

She recounted the story to every single one of her friends and acquaintances over the first few weeks of the semester. Maybe the more she told it, the more she exaggerated her own hardcore-ness, but whatever. Every story ended up embellished over time. At some point, the story became badass Adora laying down the law, and wimpy Catra accepting it. Maybe that was how it actually happened. Memories always warped with time.

She was just about to tell some guy who was _probably_ trying to hit on her at the party she was at when Glimmer quickly sandwiched herself between them and said, “Adora. Haven’t you told this story enough?”

“The story of me being a badass? There’s no limit on how many times I could tell that,” Adora rolled her eyes and knocked back the rest of her drink. “Duh. Let me tell this guy.”

“It’s been _three weeks._ Let it go.” Glimmer snorted and looked at the guy with a polite smile. “So, this might be an awkward question, but are you hitting on her right now?”

The guy – Adora couldn’t remember his name – stammered a little and mumbled, “I- uh, yeah?”

“Sorry, she’s gay,” Glimmer told him, and even though it was basically common knowledge, Adora blurted out a half-hearted comment about _outing_. “Save yourself from the inevitably embellished retelling of Adora calling her roommate a bitch.”

“What’d you do that for?” Adora said as the guy awkwardly backed away and disappeared into the crowd. “I was just _talking_ to him. Lesbians are allowed to talk to men occasionally, in a friendly way, you know.”

“He was talking to you because he wanted to hook up with you. Not because he cares about your fight with your jerkface roommate.” Glimmer pointed out, frowning at the empty cup in Adora’s hand. “How much have you had?”

“I don’t know,” Adora waved her off, because that wasn’t important. Who cared if the room was spinning? It was the weekend, and it wasn’t like she had any assignments yet. Getting drunk at least once was the whole point of the weekend. “Where’s Bow?”

“Waiting outside, because we’re taking your drunk ass home,” Glimmer said, and when Adora wiggled her eyebrows suggestively, she scoffed. “Not like that, stupid. Come on.”

Adora pulled back, conveniently in the direction of the drinks. Or at least what she thought was the direction of the drinks. Every frat house looked the same. “Ugh, what? It’s too early.”

“It’s 3am,” Glimmer waved her phone screen in front of Adora’s face. “Come on. Home time for you.”

“Party pooper,” Adora pouted at her, sighing dramatically as her friend dragged her through the crowds of people, out onto the equally crowded frat house lawn. Bow was talking to a guy by Glimmer’s car – she’d drawn the short straw that night and was designated driver – and he waved enthusiastically when he saw them. “ _Glimmer._ You’re not really going to make me go back and endure _Catra’s_ company, are you?”

“It’s three in the morning, your grumpy roommate will be asleep,” Glimmer pointed out, and Adora knew she’d have a point, but she didn’t want to face Catra’s wrath if she woke her up. Drunk Adora wasn’t exactly known for her agility. Nor was regular Adora. “Now get in the car. Come on.”

Adora let Glimmer push her into the backseat of the car. She blew a raspberry in her friend’s face, just to show how _not_ okay with this she was and was zero help when it came to buckling her own seatbelt.

“Honestly,” Glimmer muttered as she corralled Bow into the passenger seat, “it’s like babysitting with you two.”

Adora watched as her friend got into the driver’s side and started the car. She thought of Catra again and didn’t bother questioning why. That wasn’t important. “Hey, guys. My roommate’s a bitch.”

“We know, Adora,” Glimmer sighed dramatically, “You tell us every five minutes.”

“Yeah, why exactly do you talk about her all the time if you don’t like her?” Bow asked, “If you don’t like her, you don’t think about her, you know?”

“I don’t know, Bow, I’m not a psychiatrist,” Adora retorted, flopping over to one side when Glimmer made a sharp turn around one corner. “Hey! Drive better.”

“Do you want to try?” Glimmer countered, and Adora laughed at the glimpse she caught of her frown in the rear-view mirror. “Okay, maybe not, since you’re in your _sassy drunk_ phase, which means you’re like a bottle of wine in.”

“Aw, you know me too well,” Adora clapped a hand to her heart and pouted, “Means a lot.”

“ _Is_ that a good thing? I can’t decide,” Glimmer said, and turned up the radio when _Shake it Off_ started blaring. Probably to make sure Adora didn’t fall asleep in the back of the car. She crashed hard after drinking.

They had a mini dance party in the car to the music coming on the radio, singing at the top of their lungs as Glimmer drove. They probably sounded like a group of wailing cats, but that didn’t matter. They were having fun, and that was the point.

Adora was still singing when the car pulled up outside of Fright Zone Hall and the radio cut off with the engine. _Shake it Off_ was around four songs ago, but she was shouting out, “Shake it off, shake it off!” as Glimmer helped her out of the car, told Bow to wait there, and half carried Adora towards the door.

“Oh no, I don’t think I have my keys.”

The realisation was enough to take her from dance party happy to _I’m going to have to sleep outside_ sad.

“You don’t,” Glimmer said, and she produced them from her own purse, “I do. Because I know you’re an idiot when you’re drunk.”

“Oh. Thanks,” Adora said, and then realised what Glimmer had said and added, “not for calling me an idiot. For having my keys. You’re mean for calling me an idiot.”

She watched, swaying a little bit, as Glimmer unlocked the building’s front door and helped her over to the elevator, pressing the button to call it. The doors slid open creakily, and Adora _shushed_ them pointlessly, poking all of the buttons for all of the floors before Glimmer could stop her, making loud _beeping_ noises as she did it.

“Oh my god, shush,” Glimmer clamped a hand over her mouth, and Adora poked a tongue out to lick it. “You know, I’m almost regretting bringing you back here, but at least if you wake Catra up, she’ll give you the ass kicking you deserve.”

“I can’t believe you’d side with my mean roommate.” Adora cringed as Glimmer wiped the hand she’d licked on Adora’s dress. “Hey. That’s gross.”

“What’s gross is you licking my hand in the first place,” Glimmer laughed, waiting as the doors opened on floor two, waited, then closed again, thanks to Adora’s button pushing. “Moron.”

“ _You’re_ a moron.”

“Which one of us can walk properly right now?”

“…Shut up.”

* * *

Catra’s eyes blinked open at the sound of a loud bang on her bedroom door. She stretched and rolled over, ignoring the muffled voices outside in favour of checking the time.

3:26AM. Fucking perfect.

Any attempt she might’ve made at getting back to sleep was completely ruined by her bedroom door swinging open, the light from the hallway spilling inside. Catra cringed away from it, watching as Adora’s tall, lumbering shadow blocked the light, blurted way too loudly that _she’d be fine_ to her friend – probably Sparkles or something – and closed the door again.

The room plunged back into darkness, and she heard Adora stumbling around. She banged into something, and something else hit the floor. Or maybe Adora did. Either way, there was a loud _thud._

“God, could you be any louder?” Catra asked, reaching over to flick her light on. Adora stumbled in surprise, and at least had the decency to mumble a _sorry_. “Yeah, whatever.”

Catra kicked her sheets off and stretched again. She didn’t know if she was being stupid, or… actually, she was probably just being stupid, but she went over and steadied Adora, walking her over to her bed. She went into the closet and grabbed some of the other girl’s pyjamas, tossing them over at her and not bothering to hide her laugh when they hit the side of her head and flopped onto the bed.

“Sharp reflexes,” Catra’s voice was dripping with sarcasm, but she was surprising herself when it came out in the fond way she spoke around Scorpia and Entrapta. “I’m not going to help you get dressed. Get in your pyjamas and go to sleep.”

Adora stared at her, big blue eyes blinking in surprise. “You’re not going to yell at me for waking you up?”

“I’m too tired to yell,” Catra pulled Adora up and walked her over to their attached bathroom. She kicked the door open and pulled the light on, tossing Adora’s pyjamas in there with her. “Get changed, brush your teeth.”

She shut the door behind the blonde, rolling her eyes. Ducking down, she opened the door to her mini-fridge and pulled out a fresh bottle of water, taking it over to Adora’s side of the room and placing it on her nightstand. Reminding herself that she couldn’t care less about the blonde, and that she was just doing it because it was the right thing to do, Catra popped two painkillers out of the pack she kept in her drawer – for essay induced headaches – and placed them next to the water bottle. Adora could take them in the morning, and that would be that. Their mutual avoidance policy would fall back into place.

A loud _thud_ sounded from the bathroom, and begrudgingly, Catra knocked on the door. “You okay in there, princess?”

“Uh, yeah, I just… tripped. Over my own feet.” Adora called back through the door. “Or maybe over my pyjamas, actually. Can’t tell.”

Catra rolled her eyes. _Idiot._ “Idiot.”

She could hear her conscience – or as she liked to call it, _internal Scorpia_ – telling her not to vocalise that, but she couldn’t help herself. Adora probably wouldn’t even remember that in the morning.

“Jerk,” was Adora’s muffled reply from the bathroom, and Catra didn’t bother stifling her laugh.

She heard the faucet turn on, and the distinct sound of someone brushing their teeth. Catra found herself yawning, and she looked back at her bed longingly, but she couldn’t go there yet. She didn’t want to get blamed for the sudden death of her roommate if drunk Adora decided to go do something stupid.

Slowly, the bathroom door creaked open, and Adora peeked her head out. Cloudy blue eyes looked Catra up and down, and she said with a weird wonderment, “You’re still here.”

“It _is_ my room, knucklehead,” Catra rolled her eyes and held out the second water bottle she’d taken from the mini fridge. “Drink that now. Don’t chug it, go slow. I don’t want you puking all over the place.”

Adora stared at the outstretched water bottle but didn’t take it. “Why are you helping me?”

“I’m only doing it so I don’t wake up to your dead body in the morning because you choked on your own puke,” Catra shoved the water bottle towards her with a scoff. “ _Not_ because I like you.”

Those stupid blue eyes squinted, and Adora’s pretty pink lips quirked up in a smirk. “ _Sure._ ”

“I don’t,” Catra turned away from her with a scowl, “drink the stupid water and then go to bed. There’s more water there if you need it and some painkillers. Goodnight.”

She went to move towards her bed, and she jumped embarrassingly when a gentle hand clasped around her wrist. “Hey, Catra. Thanks. For helping. You had every right to yell at me for coming in loud and waking you up.”

“Just don’t do it again,” Catra pulled her wrist from Adora’s grasp and turned back towards her bed, bundling herself under her covers. She told herself that it didn’t mean anything when she waited for Adora to stagger over to her bed and collapse into it before switching her lamp off. Because it didn’t.

It meant nothing.

* * *

When Adora woke up, her head was pounding and her mouth was so dry it felt like it had been stuffed with cotton. She blinked, expecting to cringe away from the light in the room, but it was still dark. The curtains were drawn, and Adora wondered what time it was. She glanced over to Catra’s bed, expecting to see the tiny lump that indicated the girl was in bed, but she wasn’t there. The room was empty.

Adora pushed herself up onto her elbow and had the sudden urge to hurl. The room was spinning at an alarming pace, but she pulled through to grab her phone and check the time or whatever else.

2:07PM. Okay, so definitely not the middle of the night. More like the middle of the afternoon.

She had three texts from Glimmer, double checking that she was alright, two from Bow asking the same, and one from her grandmother, Razz, with zero spacing, punctuation or capital letters. Thankfully, she was only checking in and asking how college was; Razz’s longer texts took Adora at least fifteen minutes at full brainpower to decipher. Razz hadn’t mastered technology yet.

Adora texted her back quickly, then sent a less wordy text to her group chat with Bow and Glimmer, just so they knew she hadn’t died in the middle of the night. Judging by her headache, maybe she went a little overboard.

She switched her position, sitting up, and the room distorted and blurred. Braving it, Adora reached over and switched her lamp on, cringing at the bright light. She looked over to Catra’s bed again, but she definitely wasn’t there. It had been hard to tell in the dark, because Catra was already quite small and Adora had picked up on how she slept all curled up in one corner of her bed.

Not that she watched her roommate sleep or anything. It was just something she’d noticed.

Thinking of Catra gave her a flash back to last night, and she cringed when she’d remembered how loud she’d been. But then… Catra had looked after her. A little begrudgingly, but she’d still done it.

She looked over to her nightstand. A fresh, unopened water bottle was there, right next to her lamp, along with two pills she assumed were painkillers. Ordinarily, Adora wouldn’t take strange pills she found on her nightstand, but as much as she knew Catra didn’t like her, she didn’t think she’d go as far as to poison her.

Well, at least she’d get a nicer roommate if this one attempted murder.

She took the painkillers and drank some of the water. Slowly, because her stomach felt a little weird. She didn’t want to tempt fate and end up being sick all over the place. She finished the bottle, one sip at a time, and slowly got up, wanting to brush her teeth. Her mouth tasted like stale booze, which was the furthest thing from nice.

Adora was shaky on her legs when she stood – an after effect from all the alcohol – and she half stumbled to the bathroom, turning the light on and grabbing her toothbrush. Her hands shook as she squeezed a lump of toothpaste out of the tube. As she brushed her teeth, she glanced up at herself in the mirror and cringed. She’d definitely looked better. Her hair was a mess, more on one side than the other because of how she’d been sleeping. The whites of her eyes were red and bloodshot, and she’d turned so pale she looked a little bit like a vampire. But not a sexy vampire, like the _Twilight_ ones were supposed to be. An honest to god reanimated corpse.

She finished up in the bathroom, and just as she blundered back to bed, the room door swung open. The sheer brightness of the sunlight in the hallway was enough to make her cringe – it was harsh compared to the soft light from her lamp – but it was soon blocked by Catra sauntering through, kicking the door shut behind her.

Obviously because she had zero sympathy, Catra flicked the main light on and let Adora suffer. With that judgemental stare, Catra looked her up and down and snorted. “You look like shit.”

“Wow, thanks for always being so positive,” Adora deadpanned, lying back down onto her bed and wrapping her comforter around herself like a big warm burrito. “I really appreciate it.”

“Just being honest.” Catra shrugged and flashed her that irritating smirk. It was irritating because it was so attractive. Not that Adora thought she was attractive, just… objectively. “So, how was dying and rising again, corpse bride?”

“ _Ha ha_ ,” Adora rolled her eyes just to make sure Catra knew she was being sarcastic. “Did you come back here just to get on my nerves or something?”

“You really _are_ that full of yourself, hm? Newsflash, princess,” Catra’s smirk turned into that condemnatory glare as she sat down on her bed and grabbed her laptop, “the world doesn’t revolve around you.”

Adora scoffed. There she went. Of course Catra wasn’t _nice._ Adora couldn’t believe she’d even considered it. There had to be some kind of ulterior motive to her kindness last night, or something. “Okay, so, I’m going to assume that you were possessed by the spirit of an actually _nice_ person last night, because surprise surprise, you’re still a raging bitch.”

“You’re saying you wouldn’t be pissed when your already annoying roommate bursts in at three in the morning being even more annoying?” Catra snapped, and _okay_ , maybe she had a little bit of a point. But whatever. Adora had tried to be quiet. “Unlike you, some people actually have jobs they need to be up for.”

Adora’s jaw worked, trying to form some kind of response. A pathetic, “You could’ve said that,” came out, but she knew Catra had a right to be annoyed. Adora would be, if the roles were reversed. She’d maybe go about telling her roommate how much of a jerk she was in a kinder way, but still. “I’m sorry for waking you up last night. Maybe we could both pin copies of our schedules to the notice board so we know… you know, when not to go out and get really drunk. Or when to crash with friends.”

“I’ll do anything if it means I don’t have to talk to you,” Catra said, and she didn’t look up from whatever she was doing on her laptop. She grabbed a pair of earphones and plugged them into the jack, putting both in her ears, an unspoken sign that the conversation was over.

Adora sighed, rolling over to get at least a little bit of darkness back, but she didn’t have it in her to sleep anymore. After lying on her side and waiting for the room to stop spinning, plus scrolling through random social media feeds, she decided to go to the dining hall. Food might make her feel better, and even if it didn’t, at least it couldn’t make her feel worse.

She grabbed a pair of sweats and a hoodie and changed in the bathroom, brushing her hair and tying it back. She still looked hungover, but it was the weekend and she was a college student, so that was basically a given.

When she walked out of the bathroom, she waved to get Catra’s attention. Just to offer an olive branch. Catra met her gaze disdainfully, slowly pulling out one earphone like it was a chore. “What?”

“I’m going to the dining hall to get something to eat,” Adora said, and when Catra looked even more annoyed, she added, “Do you want to come?”

“Pass.” Admittedly, Adora had expected that response, but she rolled her eyes anyway. So much for civility, huh?

“Fine,” Adora answered, maybe more than a little curtly, but she had a right to be annoyed. Catra was being an ass. She pulled her jacket on and made her way out of the room, leaving her grumpy roommate behind. It was obvious that Catra was just a bitch. Even when she was being nice last night, she was rude about it. And Adora couldn’t say she hadn’t tried.

No, the mutual avoidance policy they had in place was for the best, clearly. No point in trying to befriend someone as horrible and abrasive as her.

Adora was done with that.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i know i said saturday but eh... i was productive

Catra was avoiding her irritating roommate, and she was fairly certain said irritating roommate was doing the same thing.

That was fine by her, obviously. Actually, it suited her quite well. Any time she went back into the room, Adora was never there. Except to sleep, but she wasn’t quite as irritating when she was asleep. She camped out at Scorpia and Entrapta’s place more than she liked to admit though, even sleeping over a couple of nights when she really didn’t want to deal with Adora. But mostly, things were fine. She and Adora had come to a silent understanding that a) they didn’t like each other, and b) they should keep out of the other’s way. It was a suitable arrangement.

The semester wore on, and between school, work and studying, Catra barely had time to spare anything a passing thought, let alone her stupid roommate. She was busy with picking up extra shifts at the coffee shop she worked at, making sure all of her schoolwork was to a high standard – she had to meet certain expectations to keep her scholarship – and spending the occasional night hanging out with her friends, drinking a little wine and playing whatever new video game Entrapta was on that week. Plus trying and failing to beat her at Mario Kart. Everything was perfectly mundane and as it should be.

Until it wasn’t.

Catra took the back exit out of her last lecture of the day. It was less congested, so a quicker escape route, and closer to the library, where she intended to go to finish up a little bit of work.

Key word: intended.

She was just out of the building and rounding the corner when she heard it. A quiet mewling coming from the dumpsters behind the building. Catra paused, backed up, and not caring what any passers-by would think about her rooting around in the trash, flipped open the dumpster lid and tried to identify the sound.

She spotted the eyes first. Big and bright blue, staring up at her warily. They belonged to a little black cat, who was way too adorable. Catra had always been an animal person, but cats in particular had her heart. She supposed that was fitting. Slowly, she leaned into the dumpster and gently lifted the cat out. It was freezing cold, and so thin and malnourished. There was no collar, nothing to indicate that it was anything more than a stray, but when she put it down on the ground, it didn’t run away.

The cat blinked at her, and rubbed against her leg, and Catra sighed. “I guess I should get you some food, huh? Come on, little buddy.”

It was mildly surprising that the cat actually followed her, all the way back to Fright Zone Hall. She paused outside the door, because she knew animals were strictly forbidden, but… Catra had a soft spot for strays.

After all, she kind of was one.

“Okay, you’re not going to like this,” She unzipped her backpack, placing it on the floor, and then gently putting the little cat inside. It meowed in protest, and she just smiled, zipping the backpack three quarters of the way so it had some air. She carried the bag in her arms, rather than pulling it back onto her back, feeling the little cat scratching around inside. Catra really wasn’t looking forward to the scratches on her laptop, but oh well. Some things were worth it, and a few scratches didn’t make something lesser.

She made her way inside, taking the stairs rather than the elevator for speed’s purpose, and then hastily unlocked her bedroom door. She peered around inside; annoying Adora wasn’t there, which was good. She seemed the goody-two-shoes, telltale type. She probably wouldn’t hesitate to tell on Catra if she knew she was breaking a rule.

Quickly, she unzipped her bag, letting the cat out. It bolted out and bounced onto her bed, sniffing around its new surroundings curiously. Catra had another fleeting _that’s adorable_ thought, but she pushed it from her mind and went to the mini fridge. She wondered if it was fate that she’d made a quick tuna salad yesterday, and only used half the can. The remaining half was in a little Tupperware container than she placed on the floor for the little cat.

“Here, buddy,” Catra waved it to get the cat’s attention, “food.”

The little cat jumped down from her bed and started eating greedily. Catra made a mental note to buy some cat food, and then muttered to herself, “Stupid, you can’t keep it.”

But then the cat finished eating and rubbed against her leg affectionately, and she groaned. Catra fell back onto her bed, and the cat jumped up too. It clambered up to lie down on her stomach, curling up and falling to sleep, its little affectionate purrs rumbling against her.

“Oh my god,” Catra groaned again, “I’m fucked.”

* * *

As September became October and the semester really started to get underway, between classes, library time, soccer, hanging out with her friends, and maybe taking a photograph of Catra’s schedule on the noticeboard to know for sure when she’d be in the room and making sure that she _wasn’t_ there at those times, Adora barely saw Catra.

It was peaceful. No sarcastic comments, no disdainful ‘ _princess’_ muttered from across the room. Adora could fool herself into thinking that Catra was a nice person when the only time she ever saw her, she was asleep in her bed. She could tolerate a sleeping Catra.

She was finding her living situation to be manageable, which is more than she’d thought it would be at the start of the school year. When she left her class, she triple-checked the photograph she’d taken of Catra’s schedule, and she knew the room was empty right now, so instead of going to the library, she decided to utilise that time.

Adora was in a good mood – though, she was most of the time – as she made her way across campus in the general direction of Fright Zone Hall. She decided to stop at a coffee house on her way back. Caffeine was always a good idea when she had homework ahead of her, so she ducked into the first place she saw and joined the line.

The good mood disappeared completely when she reached the counter and saw her horrible, jerkface roommate smirking at her. Clearly, Catra had a lovely effect on people. 

Before thinking about it, Adora asked, “What are you doing here?”

“You really are dumber than you look,” Catra scoffed, “I know it’s a wild concept for you, princess, but some of us actually have to _work_.”

Adora wouldn’t let her snide comments bother her. “Pretty sure you’re not supposed to talk to customers like that.”

“Pretty sure I can do what I want when it’s my asshole roommate, but whatever,” Catra rolled her eyes, “What do you want, then?” Adora opened her mouth to respond, and Catra snorted with laughter. “Actually, let me guess. Pumpkin spice latte?”

The answer had been _yes_ , but Adora wouldn’t give Catra the satisfaction of being right. She scoffed and hoped the blush on her cheeks wasn’t giving her away. “ _No._ Just a regular latte.”

Catra raised her irritatingly perfect eyebrows – _seriously_ , who let someone so rude be so attractive? – and with a snorted laugh, said, “One pumpkin spice latte for Adele, coming up.”

She didn’t dispute the order, but as she paid, she muttered, “You know my name.”

“Yeah, sorry, Addison, won’t happen again,” Catra smirked at her, and before Adora could retort, she said, “hurry up and move your ass to the collection point, you’re holding up my line.”

“ _Jerk_ ,” Adora muttered, and she knew Catra heard her from the snicker she let out. At least she got the drink she wanted, even if it was tainted with Catra’s bitterness. And at least Catra wasn’t the one making the drinks, just taking the orders; a purple haired girl was whizzing around behind the counter, making everyone’s drinks. Otherwise, she’d be afraid of a certain someone spitting in her coffee.

Since Adora was the only one waiting, the purple haired girl merely shouted, “Pumpkin spice!” and slid the drink across the counter at her. Adora rolled her eyes when the name on the side of the cup read _knucklehead_ in Catra’s stupid pretty handwriting, along with a little doodle of what she assumed _was_ Catra, sticking her tongue out mockingly. Even in doodle form, she was annoying.

“Of course,” Adora muttered to herself, sending Catra a passing scowl as she made her way out of the coffee house, “I don’t know what I expected, honestly.”

She made her way back to Fright Zone hall, sipping on her coffee. She rolled her eyes at the thought of her irritating roommate, but at least she wouldn’t be back for a while. Adora could get some peace and quiet, get an assignment polished off, and then get out for dinner before Catra came back. Since it was a Friday, she, Bow and Glimmer were going to grab a bite to eat and then find a party to go to.

When Adora was back in their room, she flopped down on the bed and got herself comfortable. She pulled her laptop from her backpack, found the relevant textbook, and got to work on the essay she needed to finish. It was due on the upcoming Tuesday, and even though it was mostly done, it had kind of been a bitch to focus on.

 _One thing it has in common with Catra_ , Adora thought with an eye roll, but she didn’t need to be thinking about that. She’d made an effort, and Catra had rejected it. Adora didn’t go around chasing friendship when people were clearly not interested.

She was making good progress with it when there was a knock on the bedroom door, and she forced herself to get up and answer it. It was probably Bow or Glimmer or one of her other friends stopping by to see if she wanted to grab a late lunch.

The door opened to the enthusiastic smile of the goalie on her soccer team, Scorpia. “Oh, hey, Scorpia.”

“Hi, Adora,” Scorpia surprised her completely when she peered behind her into the room, looked at Catra’s empty bed and frowned. “Is Catra not here?”

Incredulously, Adora asked, “ _You’re_ friends with Catra?” She couldn’t believe that. Scorpia was probably the nicest person she’d ever met, and like, genuinely nice too. It was impossible, that someone as genuine as Scorpia would waste the time of day on _Catra_. That didn’t add up in her head.

“Oh, yeah, she’s my best friend,” Scorpia beamed, leaning against the door frame, brown eyes sparkling with _something_. “Yup, two peas in a pod, since freshman year. Or, well, _three_ peas in a pod, because Entrapta is the third member of the Super Pal Trio. I came up with that. Me and my two introverts.”

“I… _what_? But she’s so… bitchy,” Adora blinked when she realised what she’d said, quickly waving her hands apologetically, “Not that I’m calling your best friend a bitch – well, I am, but… it’s just- you don’t seem like you’d get along. That’s all.”

“Eh, she can be a little grumpy sometimes, but she’s got a good heart. That’s what matters. You’ve just got to be patient with her.” Scorpia shrugged, pushing off from the door frame. “You don’t know where she’ll be, do you? She’s not answering her texts.”

“She was working about an hour ago,” Adora didn’t mention how much of a jerk she’d been, because apparently it was okay to be a jerk if you _had a good heart_. Yeah, she didn’t believe that. “Since she’s not here, I guess she’s still there.”

“Ah, okay,” Scorpia nodded, and as she made her way down the hall, she called back with a bright smile, “Thanks, Adora. See you at practice!”

Adora watched as Scorpia disappeared down the hallway, and her brain still couldn’t compute the information that _Catra_ was friends with someone so nice. Whatever. She didn’t care about Catra and she needed to focus on her assignment.

She closed the door behind her and leaned back onto her bed, stifling a bored yawn. She managed to get two sentences written when she heard a… weird noise. From Catra’s closet, of all places.

She looked up, squinting at it. The door was slightly ajar, and there was a weird scratching noise coming from inside. Slowly, she pushed her laptop aside and stood up, taking deliberate, quiet steps towards the wardrobe. She didn’t know what she was going to find – it was Catra, though, so she was expecting some kind of horror. Her hand wrapped around the closet door handle. Adora took two deep breaths in and out, and then counted to three. Whatever skeletons Catra was keeping in her closet, Adora could take it. Especially if it was making weird noises.

Swiftly, she tugged the door open, and looked the closet up and down. Her jaw dropped open in surprise when she saw it. In amongst all the clothes, curled up at the bottom of the wardrobe, was a little black cat. It stared up at her with a pair of big blue eyes from where it was snuggled on a pile of blankets.

For a moment, Adora wondered if Catra knew there was a cat in her closet, but then she saw the water bowl in the other corner and realised that obviously, she put it there. Adora smirked; this was _definitely_ against the rules. She knew that if it were Adora keeping a secret pet in her wardrobe, Catra wouldn’t hesitate to rat on her. If Adora were on Catra’s level, she’d use it as a way to keep her horrible roommate in check. _Oh, you want to be a bitch? Okay, how about I go tell the RA about the cat hiding in your closet._

She was considering her options when the bedroom door swung open and she heard Catra mutter a quiet, “ _Fuck_.” Her usual confidence was back when she spoke again, but it seemed feigned as she quickly shut the door behind her. “I thought I told you not to go through my shit.”

The cat purred happily, slipping past Adora and running over to Catra, rubbing itself against her leg. Adora stared at her, eyebrows raised, as Catra kneeled down on the floor to pet the cat.

“I didn’t realise _your shit_ included a cat,” Adora retorted, looking between the girl and the cat. It made an adorable sight, admittedly, the way Catra looked down at the little animal softly. “You do realise this is against like, every single rule, right?”

“Look, I… I found it in a dumpster behind my lecture theatre a couple of days ago, and it was so small and cold and scrawny. It looked like it hadn’t eaten for days and I couldn’t just leave it there.” Catra’s nails scratched gently behind the cat’s ears, and it purred loudly in response. “You can’t tell anyone.”

The story was surprising; to be honest, Adora had assumed that Catra would be the first person to _just leave it._ She was never kind to other people, so why should she be kind to animals?

“What? About the cat, or that you actually have a soul?” Adora snorted with laughter at her own joke, but when Catra didn’t make a snarky comment or roll her eyes, she softened. Looking at the girl and her cat in her lap, she sighed. “Fine. I won’t tell anyone.”

And then Catra did something that Adora would never let her live down. She smiled down at the cat, kissed the top of its head, and said, “You hear that, Melog? You get to stay. Maybe you can actually get the run of the room, now.”

Adora raised an eyebrow and held back the snicker of laughter. “You _named_ it?”

Catra’s smile obviously wasn’t for her, because she scowled up at Adora and snarled out, “What? What’s so funny about that?”

“Nothing, nothing, I didn’t say anything,” Adora bit down on her bottom lip in an attempt to hide her smile. It didn’t work. “It’s just… cute.”

“I am _not_ cute,” Catra muttered, nudging the cat, _Melog_ , off of her lap. She leaned under her bed and pulled a litter tray out, carrying it over to the bathroom. “I guess I don’t have to hide this anymore.”

Adora watched as she placed the litter tray in the bathroom. She was still surprised, but the fact that she’d just casually bought a litter tray for a cat she’d found a couple of days ago made her laugh again. “Well, I guess it’s fitting that you’re a cat person. It would be awkward if you were a dog person and your name was _Cat_ ra.”

“You’re not funny,” Catra rolled her eyes, and when she sat down on her bed and Melog jumped up to drape across her lap again, she asked quietly, “You’re really not going to tell anyone?”

“Even though I know you probably wouldn’t hesitate to stab me in the back if the roles were reversed, no,” Adora shook her head, looking at the little cat curled up in Catra’s lap. “Melog would end up in a shelter, and… well, you know what happens at most of those.”

“Yeah,” Catra murmured, looking down at the cat so softly that Adora wondered if she’d been possessed. And when she looked back up at Adora, she wasn’t scowling. Yeah, definitely possessed. “Thanks. And I’ll… I’ll take the fall if someone finds out.”

She hadn’t expected that at all, but she didn’t get a chance to comment on it, to say that she’d share the blame because she’s just as guilty for keeping it secret. Catra gently nudged Melog from her lap again and watched as the little cat curled up against the pillows on her bed. “I’m going to go back out. Scorpia’s waiting. I only came back to check on Melog, so… yeah. Bye.”

Adora watched as Catra whirled out of the room again, slamming the door behind her. She stared after her, maybe understanding that friendship a little bit more. _She’s got a good heart_ , Scorpia had said.

And maybe, deep down, hiding under all of that jerkiness, Catra did.

* * *

Catra didn’t know if she was being an idiot, trusting that Adora wouldn’t tell anybody about Melog. It could’ve all been a façade to get her out of the room, and when Catra got home later, the RA would be there, taking Melog away and getting the school to revoke her scholarship.

For some reason, that seemed unlikely. Adora had seemed genuine. Catra never trusted so easily, so she made a mental note to stay on guard, but… it felt like she didn’t have to. Whatever. Catra didn’t care if things went wrong.

Whatever happened, she wouldn’t abandon Melog.

“Everything okay, wildcat?” Scorpia asked, flashing her that _you can talk to me about anything_ smile over the table they were sat at in the dining hall. “You’re being quiet, even for you.”

 _Oh, well, my annoying roommate who doesn’t like me just found out about my secret pet cat and now has leverage._ That was what she was thinking. But what she said was, “You said you know my roommate, right?”

Scorpia nodded, taking a sip of her drink before answering. “She’s on my soccer team.”

“Is she…” Catra paused, figuring out how to word it. Eventually, all she could settle on was, “Trustworthy?”

Scorpia grinned knowingly, reaching across the table and ruffling Catra’s hair affectionately. “Thinking of making a new friend?”

“Get off me,” Catra tensed and batted her hand away, scowling. “No, I still don’t like her. She just found something out and I don’t know if I can trust her not to tell.”

“Oh,” Scorpia paused, hummed, and eventually just shrugged, “I don’t think she’s the gossipy type, if that means anything. If she said she wouldn’t tell, then I don’t think she will. What was it she found out?”

“Nothing really big, just… a rule I broke,” Catra answered, ignoring the fact that _no pets in dorms_ was a pretty big rule. Scorpia would probably tell her that if she admitted the truth. “I think it’ll be fine. Maybe. I guess time will tell.”

Scorpia frowned, like she was questioning whether or not to ask which rule she broke. Eventually, she must’ve decided on _not_ , because she smiled and asked, “So, did you finish that paper you wouldn’t stop complaining about?”

Instead of launching into a rant about just how sucky the paper was, Catra just nodded. She had too much on her mind for long talks. Scorpia sometimes didn’t get that – usually the person she hung out with when she _didn’t_ want to talk was Entrapta – but today seemed to be one of the rare occasions where she picked up on it.

Instead of pushing her to talk, her friend just spoke casually about the new plays and tactics the team had been trying out in soccer practice, and Catra acknowledged it all with a grateful smile.

* * *

“So… you’re telling us that you and the roommate you don’t like are now raising a cat together?”

“Well, obviously it sounds weird when you put it like that,” Adora shoved Bow lightly and leaned back against the couch. “No. I’m telling you that I found out my roommate has a secret cat, and now we’re like… bonding over it. If you could even call it bonding. She’s basically just calling me by the right name (mostly) and rolling her eyes a little bit less. But still… progress, right?”

“That’s more progress than anyone else has ever made with her,” Glimmer commented, sitting back down next to Adora and offering the wine bottle. Adora held her glass out for a refill. “Still, I guess she had no choice but to tell you. How else was she going to hide a cat for a year?”

“I don’t know, Melog was there for two days and I never noticed,” Adora cringed at how oblivious she’d been, but then she’d basically been avoiding the room for everything except sleeping. It was nice, to not have to do that anymore. While Catra wasn’t exactly being _friendly_ , at least they were no longer openly hostile with each other. “I don’t get her. She can be the rudest person on the planet, and gets all snappy about the most trivial stuff, but then… then she rescues a cat from a dumpster and looks after me when I’m drunk. Her bedside manner left something to be desired, but she still did it.”

Perhaps Scorpia had been right. Maybe Catra really did have a good heart, somewhere underneath all that snark.

Adora had to admit, the way she curled up with Melog every night was kind of adorable. More than kind of – it was incredibly adorable. They were like two peas in a pod, the little black cat and the abrasive girl. Both of them snarled at the people they didn’t like but were softer with the ones they did. Adora had seen Catra with Scorpia and the purple-haired girl from the coffee shop, smiling and laughing in the quad. She’d found herself smiling too, but when she recalled that Catra had called her _knucklehead_ that morning when she left, it had fallen away. They still weren’t friends. Adora knew that much.

Just… maybe now she wanted to be.

It was easy to give up on pursuing a friendship with someone when they acted like an insufferable jerk all the time. But when they were maybe secretly a softie underneath it all… it could be worth trying.

There was no use talking about that with her friends, though. Bow would just say his usual positive reinforcement and Glimmer would roll her eyes and call Catra a _jerkface._

Adora elected to change the subject. “Okay, so, Halloween is coming up. What are we going as?”

The three of them had coordinated costumes in freshman and sophomore year. She assumed they’d be continuing the tradition this year, but when Bow and Glimmer exchanged an awkward glance, she realised it would be different.

“Uh, actually, Adora,” Glimmer smiled sheepishly, “we were thinking about doing a couple’s costume this year…”

Bow quickly jumped in, “But that doesn’t matter. We can totally all coordinate!”

“Yeah, like a Harry, Ron, Hermione thing,” Glimmer suggested, and quickly added, “Dibs on Hermione!”

“No, no,” Adora waved them off before Bow could jump in and claim Harry, even though he was _totally_ a Ron. “It’s fine, I get it. You guys are a couple now. I know some stuff is going to be different.”

Adora held back the sigh, drinking more wine to avoid the awkward topic. She hadn’t really felt like much of a third wheel since Bow and Glimmer had gotten together at the start of last year. At first, she hadn’t even thought about it, she was just happy for her friends. Then they’d told her they wanted to live together this year, and she’d understood that too.

It was stupid, but the Halloween thing had finally made her feel it. It had been _their thing_ , since the start of college. Dressing up as some famous trio and going out partying all night. It was their routine, and now it was being broken.

Adora knew it was dumb to be upset about it. They were her best friends, and she was _happy_ that they were happy together. Maybe part of it was that she was lonely. She hadn’t dated since freshman year, but it wasn’t like she was looking for anybody. She didn’t even like anyone, and the only person she’d found even slightly attractive in the last year was _Catra_ , who… to put it lightly, her personality didn’t exactly match up.

Adora tried to cheer up, but by the time they were heading out to the party they’d planned on going to, she was a little bit tipsy, but not in the bouncy, excitable way that she usually was. More of a mopey kind of tipsy.

As she climbed into the backseat of Bow’s car, she said, “Hey, could you guys drop me off on your way? I’m not really feeling it tonight.”

They exchanged a glance, and Glimmer twisted around in her seat to smile comfortingly. “Are you sure? You might feel better once we get there.”

“Yeah, I’m sure,” Adora made herself smile, even though she knew it probably didn’t look the most genuine. “I kind of just want to laze in bed with some Netflix.”

Bow frowned and looked back at her in the rear-view mirror. “You _really_ want to spend your Friday night with Catra?”

“She won’t even be there,” Adora waved that off, even though she had no idea where Catra would be. She was sure she’d have better things to do on a Friday night than hang out in their room, though. “I’m just not feeling the whole party scene tonight. Maybe we can go somewhere tomorrow.”

Her friends looked a little concerned, and if anything, it made Adora feel worse. She didn’t want to make _them_ feel bad just because she was feeling like a third wheel. She forced the smile even more and had to assure them both that she was alright about fifty times before they agreed to drop her off.

The smile dropped when she was sure they’d driven away, and she stumbled a little bit, that last bit of wine hitting her at the wrong time. She knew she was straddling the line of tipsy and wandering into drunk territory, so it was probably a good thing that she’d skipped out on the party. She didn’t want to wake Catra up again; pissing her off didn’t seem like the best idea when they were actually starting to be civil with one another.

She unlocked the front door and made her way over to the elevator, calling it and waiting for the doors to creak open. Honestly, she wasn’t sure this thing was safe – Fright Zone Hall was the oldest out of all the student dorms on campus, and not even the temptation of private bathrooms could get most people to even consider signing up for it. She wondered if Catra had only chosen to live there because she’d been promised a single and felt a little bit guilty if that had been the case. She wouldn’t ask, though. Seemed like a question that might break the temporary truce that Melog had brought.

Adora stepped into the creaky elevator and pushed the button for the third floor. She felt a little guilty for being a bit of a party pooper. The realisation that things would never be the same as they were before had hit her suddenly, and it was pretty hard to process. She still didn’t get why it had hit her now, and not way back when Bow and Glimmer had first gotten together. Or even when they told her they wanted to live together.

She was so far in her own head that she didn’t even notice Catra when she walked into their room and sat down on her bed. When Adora zoned out, she zoned out hard, and she jumped about fifty feet in the air when Catra said casually, “Well, you look like you just saw a ghost.”

“Jesus _Christ_ , Catra,” Adora jumped, ignoring the way the other girl’s musical laugh made something in her stomach twist. “Warn a girl next time.”

“Warn you?” Catra repeated, looking at her like she was an idiot. Which didn’t differ at all from any other times Catra looked at her. “You walked in, saw me on my bed, and I spoke at a normal human volume. But sure, next time I’ll just throw my dirty socks at you first.”

Usually, Adora would entertain that with some kind of _shut up_ remark, or an eye roll, or matching Catra’s sarcasm with her own. But Adora found that she didn’t quite have it in her.

She just sighed, shrugged, and murmured, “I guess you have a point,” before lying back against her pillows and staring up at the ceiling.

Adora could feel Catra’s gaze burning holes in the side of her head, but for once it didn’t bother her. She was more bothered about _why_ she was bothered. She zoned out again and jumped when a soft weight landed on her stomach. Melog _mewed_ quietly, and Adora scratched behind the little cat’s ears.

What she didn’t expect was another weight on the end of the bed, and Catra asking, “Are you okay?”

Adora stared at her. The shock of that question was enough to snap her out of her confused thoughts. It just gave her _other_ confused thoughts. “You’re asking me if I’m okay?”

“Not because I like you or anything,” Catra scoffed, and Adora felt herself smiling involuntarily, “Just… I don’t know, you look like you just saw someone drop dead or something.”

“It’s nothing serious. I’m just… a little tipsy, and had a couple of weird realisations,” Adora muttered and focused on petting Melog. “You’ll probably just make some comment about _first world problems,_ but my best friends and I usually do like, coordinated Halloween costumes-”

“ _Dorks_ ,” Catra snorted, but when Adora looked up and met her gaze, something in her softened. “Is what I _would’ve_ said if I wasn’t taking on the concerned roommate thing. Go on.”

Adora bit down on her bottom lip to prevent the unconscious smile. It showed anyway when she spoke. “Yeah, so, we pick a trio, and then dress up as them and go partying. But earlier, we were pregaming, and I mentioned it, and they said they wanted to do a couple’s costume, because they’re together now.”

“They’ve been together for like, nearly a year, so I didn’t get why thinking about it made me feel so weird. Maybe it’s because I’m tipsy.” Adora shrugged, and Melog seemed to sense her melancholy, because the little cat nuzzled against her happily in an effort to cheer her up. “Maybe it was the sudden realisation that nothing is going to be the same. Like, if they stay together or break up. And I’m not saying I’m not happy for them, I _am_ , but… it used to be _us_. The Best Friend Squad. Now they’re a couple and I’m the side piece.”

“Side piece? Are you fucking one of them on the side, or do you just not know what that means?” Catra said, and Adora laughed when she realised how that sounded. “And _Best Friend Squad_? What are you, five?”

Adora really was laughing then. “Uh, okay, coming from one third of the _Super Pal Trio_.”

Catra blushed, and it was probably the most adorable thing Adora had ever seen. And she saw the way she cuddled with Melog, so that was saying something. Pink spread along tanned cheeks and made those cute little freckles of hers stand out even more.

“Okay, that’s all _Scorpia_ ,” Catra scoffed, “and Entrapta encouraging her. Nothing to do with me.”

Adora couldn’t stop laughing at how genuinely offended she looked. “Sure, sure. I totally believe you.”

“God, you’re so annoying,” Catra rolled her eyes, standing up and stalking back over to her own bed, “I try to make you feel better and this is the thanks I get?”

She almost apologised. Like, opened her mouth and almost started to speak. But then she saw the little smile tilting up the corner of Catra’s mouth as she sat back down, and Adora couldn’t help but grin. “Hey, you should appreciate it. I’m protecting you from hypocrisy. Nothing wrong with having a fun group chat name, don’t act like you’re too cool for it.”

Catra scoffed. “Whatever. Are you going to fuck off to that party you were pregaming for, then? Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.”

“Unfortunately for you,” Adora paused to sit up properly, gently nudging Melog off her stomach and onto her bedsheets, “I’m staying home for the night. Netflix and chill, you know.”

“Okay, I can’t tell if you’re actually that stupid and you really don’t know what that means,” Catra said dryly, “but if you’re being serious, you can go Netflix and chill somewhere else. I’m not leaving.”

“I know what it means, but I didn’t mean it in that way. I’m not into exhibitionism.” Adora said, and then cringed. “I’m sorry, I don’t know why I just made a joke about _exhibitionism_ of all things, like I said, I’m tipsy, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable or anything, and I know all this rambling is making me sound like I _am_ into exhibitionism-”

“Adora,” Catra cut her off, and Adora snapped her mouth shut, blushing embarrassedly, “if you say the word _exhibitionism_ one more time, I’m literally going to push you out of the window.”

“Right,” Adora blushed, inwardly scolding herself for being a rambling idiot, “sorry.”

She made a mental note to never hang around Catra when she’d had a bit of alcohol. Or just any pretty girl, not specifically Catra. She was bad enough around girls as it was. Not that she was flirting with Catra, or even _interested_ in Catra, it was just...

Okay, now she was even rambling to herself.

“Well, I was actually just about to start _The Haunting of Bly Manor,_ if you want to join me,” Catra masked the obvious olive branch behind a mocking, “but I bet you’re too scared.”

Adora scoffed, even though any TV show with the word _haunting_ in the title would never be an immediate pick for her. Any time she watched horror movies she generally hid behind a pillow. “Me? Scared? Never. I bet you just asked me to watch it with you because _you’re_ scared.”

“Fine, sit by yourself being emo all night,” Catra retorted, grabbing her earphones, “Melog, come here.”

Melog, the little traitor, jumped from Adora’s bed and went right on over to Catra’s, curling up next to her. Catra smirked triumphantly, scratching behind the cat’s ears and eliciting a loud purr. _Melog is her cat_ , Adora reasoned, but she still glared at both of the traitors. Melog for ditching her, and Catra for… being a grump. But when Catra grabbed her earphones and went to go plug them in, Adora put her pride aside.

“Can I watch with you?” Adora asked, so quietly that she hoped Catra wouldn’t hear it.

But she did. She shuffled over on her bed, putting her laptop in the middle, and nodding at the empty space on the left side of it. “Come on, then. Bring your ugly flowery pillows, though. You’re not using mine. And switch the lights off.”

Great, so not only were they watching a scary show, they were watching a scary show _with the lights off._ But as much as it would be her worst nightmare, when Adora finally settled down, she wasn’t afraid. She actually felt a lot better than she had when she came in.

“Hey, Catra?” Adora said before Catra could start the first episode. She decided to quite literally take a shot in the dark, and distracted herself by petting Melog, who was settled in front of the laptop and between Catra and Adora. “Thanks for being a friend.”

She expected Catra to laugh it off, say they weren’t friends, or make some other derogatory, rude comment. But instead, Catra just said, “Yeah, yeah. Don’t make a big deal about it,” and pressed _play_.

**Author's Note:**

> tumblr - sunsetcatra
> 
> comments and kudos always appreciated :)


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